Accounts receivable management
rP os t
IMB 357
S. RAMESH KUMAR, ANDE TEJA AND SYED HUSSAIN
EXPLORING CATEGORY BENEFITS FOR BRAND BUILDING: KAYA
AND THE BEAUTY CARE MARKET
op yo India has been an emerging market that is witnessing radical changes in lifestyles and spending patterns of customers. Customers have been used to branded creams and lotions, and several of these offerings are being advertised with strong symbolic appeals associated with enhanced self-concepts. Kaya was also a brand in the beauty care category. However, the brand’s offerings dealt with medically anchored services intended to enhance the looks of the customers. The brand opened up a new facet of beauty care services that was associated more with upmarket and state-of-the-art hospitals, where customers opted for these services under the supervision of doctors who had specialized in cosmetic surgeries/interventions. Would the differentiation between the first-time users of a beauty parlor and the loyal customers of a parlor offer insights that Kaya would find useful? Issues related to services management as well as customer value and customer loyalty were relevant to Kaya’s competitive strategies.
Although the customers of a beauty parlor could be demographically different from Kaya’s customers, the commonality of the benefits related to the beauty services offered were the same. The challenge for Kaya was to use the insights from the customers in a related category of beauty parlor services in developing its category that did not face direct competition.
INTRODUCTION: BEAUTY CARE INDUSTRY IN INDIA
tC
Traditionally, beauty care products in India had been limited to herbs and homemade products. Only soaps, hair oil, shampoos, and talcum powder from the organized industry had been able to penetrate the Indian market. However, with a steady increase in the awareness of hygiene and personal grooming across urban and rural India, several beauty and personal care categories gained
IMB 357
S. RAMESH KUMAR, ANDE TEJA AND SYED HUSSAIN
EXPLORING CATEGORY BENEFITS FOR BRAND BUILDING: KAYA
AND THE BEAUTY CARE MARKET
op yo India has been an emerging market that is witnessing radical changes in lifestyles and spending patterns of customers. Customers have been used to branded creams and lotions, and several of these offerings are being advertised with strong symbolic appeals associated with enhanced self-concepts. Kaya was also a brand in the beauty care category. However, the brand’s offerings dealt with medically anchored services intended to enhance the looks of the customers. The brand opened up a new facet of beauty care services that was associated more with upmarket and state-of-the-art hospitals, where customers opted for these services under the supervision of doctors who had specialized in cosmetic surgeries/interventions. Would the differentiation between the first-time users of a beauty parlor and the loyal customers of a parlor offer insights that Kaya would find useful? Issues related to services management as well as customer value and customer loyalty were relevant to Kaya’s competitive strategies.
Although the customers of a beauty parlor could be demographically different from Kaya’s customers, the commonality of the benefits related to the beauty services offered were the same. The challenge for Kaya was to use the insights from the customers in a related category of beauty parlor services in developing its category that did not face direct competition.
INTRODUCTION: BEAUTY CARE INDUSTRY IN INDIA
tC
Traditionally, beauty care products in India had been limited to herbs and homemade products. Only soaps, hair oil, shampoos, and talcum powder from the organized industry had been able to penetrate the Indian market. However, with a steady increase in the awareness of hygiene and personal grooming across urban and rural India, several beauty and personal care categories gained